The Allure of Snow

It's the middle of winter.

Really.

Life in California is rough stuff sometimes. My kids are complaining because they say they've never seen snow. That is totally not true. Well, 50% not true. Big G and Baby X have seen snow and have even played in it... but they were only 4 and 2. G remembers it vaguely, but X does not.

We keep talking about taking a family trip to snow country so the kids can frolic in the frosty white stuff, but I know how the whole snow thing would play out.

First, there'd be the several hours of driving to get to the snow. Oh, wait... back up... first, there'd be the several hours of packing and planning for a trip with 4 children. Then there'd be the several hours drive. Oooops!...forgot another preliminary step: Procuring snow gear to adequately clothe and boot children who have never experienced sub-freezing temperatures.

We would arrive. The kids would be super excited.  They would be so excited that their brains wouldn't register the frigidity of the air temperature while unloading the car. We would go inside and start the bundling process necessary to play in snow. They would state that it wasn't all that cold out. They would insist that they felt fine on that 30-second walk in from the car. Finally, they'd be as properly bundled as their kvetching would allow and would step outside to play in snow for the first time.

The level of their excitement would be off the charts. Snow angels, snowballs, snowpeople... a little sledding or saucering... Hopefully, we would have the cameras at the ready because this would last 30 minutes at the most.

Because about then it would sink in.

Snow is COLD.

And when snow melts, it becomes water, and water is WET.

Cold and wet is not all that much fun...especially when you are a weather-spoiled California child. They'd come back in, probably still in good spirits but screeching about how cold they were. They would come in to sit by a fire and drink hot chocolate and play board games and read...and not want to venture out into the snow again for more than 30 minutes at the most.

By the end of the several hours drive home, they'd be reminiscing about the awesome snow trip...having forgotten about the freeeeeezing part. And certainly unaware of the fact that we had driven several hours (times two) for one hour total of snow-frolicking. And entirely oblivious of the parental energy expended and the costs incurred. And that is all as it should be :)

I know one day they will wear me down. It will be memorable. They will love it... for one hour in the moment and a lifetime after.

In the meantime, we continue to suffer without snow. To get our minds off this suffering, we went for a walk/trike ride today. Yes, my kid wears a helmet when she rides her tricycle. Ingraining the helmet habit from an early age ;-)

she digs playing with her shadow

Toddlers have such disproportionately large heads, and as Miss C was walking around with her rad Thomas the Tank Engine helmet on, something looked so familiar...

The Great Gazoo ... 

source

...or Marvin the Martian?

source

What do you think of snow? 


I actually like snow ... for a couple of days and if I don't have to get anything done in it.


Do you live where it snows? 


No!


What did you think of snow when you were a kid?

I thought snow was so super cool when I was a kid. I remember when it snowed the ONE time...I was 10. When I went to college in a place where it snowed, people thought I was a freak because I would stand outside while the snow came down, looking up with wonderment. After college I lived where it snowed and wasn't so crazy about needing to get to work in it :P

Vecchio Venerdì... She would be about 160...

"Goma" Haüssler 

was born in the 1850's in Germany. 

She was my grandfather's grandmother, 

my father's great-grandmother, 

my great-great-grandmother.

She immigrated to the US around 1880 or so.  

She was in a challenging marriage to a difficult man... described in genealogical literature as an "itinerant butcher" who "liked to drink."  Awesome... big knives, big booze.  Not a winning combo.  

Interestingly, his death proves this.  

He was injured in a knife fight over a game of cards. Alcohol was involved. Apparently, he was playing at a friend's house...not sure if they called them 'playdates' back then. The cards came out. The liquor was flowing. Order is not important.  Someone may or may not have cheated but someone thought he did. And.... out came the knife.

Ol' Karl got stabbed.

Evidently, this signaled "game over" to him, and he decided to walk home.

In central Pennsylvania... in the winter.

In the snow.

I'm thinking wifey was no stranger to such shenanigans and did not have a whole lot of sympathy.  I don't think a doctor was called, but that part is unclear.  What we do know is that a couple of days later, he bled to death from the injuries sustained... in the kitchen, on the floor.

Agnes looks pretty content in this picture.  I am going to venture a guess that it was taken after Karl's demise.

Any colorful characters in your family tree?

–there are lots in mine. This is all for this week, though ;-)

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The forecast calls for...SNOW!

It almost never snows here.  In fact, I can count on two fingers the number of times in my life it has snowed here.  that means it has snowed here twice in the past 47+ years, for those of you who are number-challenged ;-)

It does snow nearby in the higher hills every couple of years or so, but you have to drive 40 minutes to the "mountain" to the west or one hour to the "mountain" to the east to see any sort of accumulation (a few inches or so).  Actually snowing here... in the flatlands... super rare.  Even in the lower hills it's rare.  I remember it happening when I was about 10 years old.  It was the cooooooolest thing ever.  I know those of you in more wintry climates are thinking, "get over it, woman."

My kids have never seen snow.  They are sitting by the window right now.... waiting.  It isn't supposed to even be a possibility until Saturday morning.  I told them that.  They want to wait.  And watch.  They are crazy.  Snow crazy :)

I hope we get snow.  Of course, it might make this weekend's run a little more treacherous... especially since I am out of practice when it comes to dealing with the elements ;-)  Last night it was in the 40's when I went out for my run.  My husband was worried about me being too cold.  So sweet.  I was fine.

The run was supposed to be a speed workout.  I didn't have the patience for all that stopping and starting and warming up and rest-in-between pieces jazz.  I just wanted to go out and run for a bit... so that's what I did :)  I stepped outside, clicked my 'start' button and off I went.  I decided a few minutes into it to try what someone called a "progressive" run... I think it was Mamarunsbarefoot.  I did three miles... 9:49 for the first 3/4, 8:46 for the middle mile and a half, and 8:23 for the final 3/4... followed by 1.2 miles of cooling down at about 11 min/mile.  I loved that the whole thing was over in 40 minutes!

I don't think I could have waited much longer for dinner.  It was already 9:30 p.m.!

Do you like snow?  Did you when you were a kid?
–I love snow.  Glad I don't have to deal with it every day ... especially with kids... extra especially with little kids and babies.  I loved it when I was a kid because it was such a novelty.

Would you like to live where it snows or where the weather is nice all the time?
–I think getting it a little more often than we do would be nice...or I'd like to live a little closer to some place that gets a little accumulations.  But I really do like our weather :)